Bradman thought Muralitharan’s delivery was OK, says book publisher
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Cricket great Sir Donald Bradman thought
Muttiah Muralitharan’s controversial bowling action was legal and
shortly before his death in 2001 described Australian umpire Darrell
Hair’s attitude towards the Sri Lankan spinner as “distasteful,” his
book publisher said Sunday.
Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper said that in notes relayed to Bradman’s
publisher, Tom Thompson, and released after Bradman’s death, Bradman
spoke of Muralitharan in glowing terms.
“Murali, for me, shows perhaps the highest discipline of any spin
bowler since the war,” the newspaper reported Bradman wrote. "He holds
all the guile of the trade but something else, too. His slight stature
masked a prodigious talent and what a boon he has been for cricket’s
development on the subcontinent.
“It is with this in mind, and with the game’s need to engage as a
world sport, that I found umpire Darrel Hare’s [sic] calling of Murali
so distasteful. It was technically impossible of umpire Hare to call
Murali from the bowler’s end, even once!”
Bradman, who died on Feb. 25, 2001 at the age of 92, is considered by
many to be the best batsman to play cricket. He captained Australia
from 1936-48 and scored 6,996 runs in 52 tests spanning 20 years.
His average of 99.94 runs per test innings is far superior to any
other batsman.
Muralitharan, who held the test record for most wickets at 532 until
he was sidelined following a shoulder operation this season, has been
mired in throwing controversies his entire career.
He was cleared of chucking when he proved a birth abnormality
prevented him from completely straightening his elbow, but he was
later banned from bowling a delivery he calls a “doosra” because tests
showed his elbow flexed 14 degrees for that ball.
The newspaper said Bradman’s notes indicated he felt Hair - who called
Muralitharan seven times for throwing the ball in the Melbourne test
of 1995 - had reversed the development of cricket by a decade.
“For me, this was the worst example of umpiring that I have witnessed,
and against everything the game stands for,” Bradman said. "Clearly
Murali does not throw the ball.
“No effort in that direction is made or implied by him. His every
effort is to direct the ball unto the batsman! Murali wants to
bamboozle, to trick through flight and change of pace.”
Thompson said he plans to continue supporting Muralitharan.
“Bradman said to me that he believed the future of the game is not
with England, it’s with Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan,” Thompson said.
“We must support them as much as we can.”